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First thing that caught me eye afterwards is that SR-weak sweepers are completely falling off the radar in UU.

Swellow 9.64% to 6.87%. Probably the most dramatic drop in the tier this month.
Moltres 10.24% to 9.03%.
Scyther and Houndoom remain mostly the same. Scyther might be a bit of a different story because most of the things that it lures in on the U-turn are easy switch-ins for Donphan and Hitmontop (Steelix, Registeel, Rhyperior). Houndoom is more of a set up and die in one hit pokemon anyway so SR doesn't matter too much.

Oh cool, I was wondering how much the stats were going to change this month, and it kinda did. Surprisingly, Shayming is only #45, I thought it'd be much higher up because I see Shaymin so much these days...

King of Irrelevancy

Oh cool, I was wondering how much the stats were going to change this month, and it kinda did. Surprisingly, Shayming is only #45, I thought it'd be much higher up because I see Shaymin so much these days...

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Shaymin's probably not higher because Salamence was still in OU for a part of the month...

Dragonite usage at #11? Milo at #1? Yowza. Looks like Dusky isn't going anywhere either. Heracross usage doesn't seem to have improved...but with all the OU Fighting types taking its spot, I can understand why. Gyarados isn't a very good sweeper in this meta, but it checks a lot of stuff, so #3 seems appropriate.

As always, the best of the best are still up there while the rest are finding their own niches and roles on people's teams.

Nothing really surprises me. Notice that mence is still in the standard stats, meaning this list is a bastard child of both the old and new OU. I find it funny that people are making such a big deal over scizor. As I said, this is a collection between both new and old OU, if it was just based on the menceless meta it should be even lower (see suspect, it's at 13).

I'm honestly not surprised that Starmie is taking a jump. It's a magnificent sweeper (almost filling Latias' niche for special attacking), outruns and KO's the ever-more-common not-Scarf Trans, and thrives from the Scizor (and, to a lesser extent, ScarfTar) drops with Latias and Salamence gone.

Starmie isn't a magnificent sweeper, but it has Rapid Spin and counters the shit out of Heatran and Infernape, so it's set until Gen 5. Really though, most of the time I use it just for Rapid Spin and don't even notice my team has a Heatran/Ape weak until I find myself switching it in every other turn. Awesome utility Pokemon.

Guys...
When Salamence was banned to Ubers, most people (me included) were saying Ice Shard users would go down on usage because it wouldn't be so good (mostly Weavile).

The thing is: since Salamence ban, Heatran isn't running Choice Sarf that much anymore. Also less Scizors are found, and with Scarf Flygon everywhere (and Starmie... and the grass pokes like Breloom getting widely used too)... in fact it's even easier for Weavile to sweep nowadays o_O
(i mean easier in a way. It still lacks powerful moves to deal with bulkier pokes).
And by sweep i mean the SD Weavile: i believe CB still sucks...

Other than that: there were pretty obvious changes, like Dragonite, Shaymin etc going up, Machamp at #2 lead....

UU: finally Milotic gets the #1 spot. And look at all those Hitmonlees.
Looks like Ursaring might get to UU. Ursaring is deadly there, and only really stopped by Spiritomb, faster pokes or strong priority. And by Toxic Orb, of course.
Exeggutor is probably rising to UU. Good old Eggy lol.

Guys...
When Salamence was banned to Ubers, most people (me included) were saying Ice Shard users would go down on usage because it wouldn't be so good (mostly Weavile).

The thing is: since Salamence ban, Heatran isn't running Choice Sarf that much anymore. Also less Scizors are found, and with Scarf Flygon everywhere (and Starmie... and the grass pokes like Breloom getting widely used too)... in fact it's even easier for Weavile to sweep nowadays o_O
(i mean easier in a way. It still lacks powerful moves to deal with bulkier pokes).
And by sweep i mean the SD Weavile: i believe CB still sucks...

Other than that: there were pretty obvious changes, like Dragonite, Shaymin etc going up, Machamp at #2 lead....

UU: finally Milotic gets the #1 spot. And look at all those Hitmonlees.
Looks like Ursaring might get to UU. Ursaring is deadly there, and only really stopped by Spiritomb, faster pokes or strong priority. And by Toxic Orb, of course.
Exeggutor is probably rising to UU. Good old Eggy lol.

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You're crazy, man. You can just come in on Zapdos, Gliscor, or Shaymin and start spamming CB Ice Punch, while Gengar and Rotom-A are still checkmated as much as they ever were. Plus, those Low Kicks hurt even more with a CB, as some people like to be trolls and run bulky Heatran spreads that LO sometimes doesn't even KO.

Two of the most important aspects of LO over CB are as such:

1) Survivability. This is very, very important for Weavile, as most of the threats it counters use special attacks and base 85 Sp. Def is actually quite respectable for a sweeper type (keeping in mind that Weavile really isn't a sweeper). For instance, Sub Seed Shaymin can't even 2HKO with HP Fire, so if rocks aren't up, you can probably even get him in twice on a falsely predicted non-attack move and force it out.

2) It severely limits the switch-ins of its counters. For instance, Scizor can only come in on a CB Low Kick once before it's threatened with a KO next time. If you have rocks up, it'll only be able to take a CB Ice Punch twice before the next attack is a KO. If you play him smart, Scizor won't be much of a problem at all (enjoy Bullet Punching my Rotom/Magnezone/Zapdos).

I do agree with the sentiment that Weavile has somehow become even MORE useful in this current metagame. That's actually the first thing I was thinking when I decided to use him in the Suspect ladder. The second thing was "man, STAB Ice is extremely useful in OU". You guys should totally use him more, lol.

Oh, Shaymin hit 45th? Wonderful, people are finally using it, sucks that Leech Seed + Protect isn't getting as much love as LO. Machamp is finally recognized as the best anti-lead in OU now, and Colbur Azelf is on the rise as well, which is just awesome ~_~. Also, ScarfTran is still the dominant Heatran set? I'm always up against gay Shuca/LO/SubTran variants DX

Also, WHY is Regirock's usage dropping in UU? People think it's outclassed by Registeel. Apparently, no one has ever faced a ResTalk Curse Regirock in Sandstorm. That thing is freaking IMPOSSIBLE to kill.

Wonderful! Thanks Doug! I am very happy Dragonite usage is so high. The time is coming for the golden age of the Dragonite =) Max HP certainly doesn't mean Dragonite isn't sweeping like someone said. This allows Dragonite to set up on more Pokemon, and achieve more Dragon Dances than Salamence ever could. People really should start using Dragon Claw more often on the Dancing sets. Many people rely on it being locked into Outrage to kill it, like they did with Mence. On the other band, Choice Band Outrage obliterates the Water / Grass / Electric cores. I think it 2HKOes offensive Heatran too. Don't quote me on that :p

Nothing here really surprised me though. Starmie is a godly sweeper. You just go into the rmt forum and you will find like half the teams are Starmie weak or rely on a Choice Scarf user to kill it. Just look at the top ten: Heatran, Gyarados, and Infernape are all promptly killed, while the rest of the mons are all easily 2HKOed.

Machamp really is a great anti lead, but easily beaten by an anti-anti lead i.e. Specs Heatran, Zen Headbutt Azelf. It even surpassed Lucario on usage! Nobody thought that would ever happen a couple months ago.

People need to use Snorlax more. with all the starmie, suicune, shaymin, celebi, and heatran running amuck the fwg cores just struggle to take it down. I've been using body slam/pursuit/fire punch/EQ @lefties w/ 252 Atk/252 SpD adamant and its great being able to trap those starmie while taking laughable amounts from LO hydro pump.

People need to use Snorlax more. with all the starmie, suicune, shaymin, celebi, and heatran running amuck the fwg cores just struggle to take it down. I've been using body slam/pursuit/fire punch/EQ @lefties w/ 252 Atk/252 SpD adamant and its great being able to trap those starmie while taking laughable amounts from LO hydro pump.

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33%-40% is hardly laughable, but I can definitely see the merit in the set.

Starmie being so widely used is nothing new, as it has always been a great cleaner. And unlike other Psychics, Tyranitar and Scizor cannot afford to switch into LO Hydro Pump.

With Heatran being number 1, I've found Milotic, the #1 UU, to be surprisingly effective thanks to its high HP, SpD, and decent Def. LO sets running enough speed to outpace 32 Spe neutral 100s catch plenty of people by surprise, and it retains enough bulk to deal with Heatran and Gyarados while firing off STAB Hydro Pumps that are just as powerful as Starmie's. And while Starmie almost entirely ignores status, Milotic can use it to its advantage (to an extent), as it isn't too reliant on speed and can afford to absorb a Thunder Wave here and there. Truly an underrated threat.

EDIT: For those of you wondering about Shaymin's "low" #45:

June 2010:

Code:

| 64 | Shaymin | 21120 | 2.11 |

July 2010:

Code:

| 45 | Shaymin | 36681 | 3.77 |

Jumped up to a more solid OU spot than the likes of Heracross, and gain a point and a half percentage wise, all in less than a month.